


Not a Story to Tell

by Koren M (CyberMathWitch)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Natasha Romanov's Arrow Necklace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 13:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4747469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberMathWitch/pseuds/Koren%20M
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day she fell in love with Clint... That's the story they want her to tell, but she's not sure she can. She isn't even sure there's a story there to tell. A "story" implies a narrative structure, a distinct beginning, middle, and end.</p>
<p>For the prompt: <br/><i>And one day she looks at Laura, close enough to kiss with cheeks flushed from laughing, and thinks, Oh.</i></p>
<p>
  <i>Natasha had always known intellectually, analytically, that falling in love with someone was a possibility. What she and Clint had was too broad, too knit with wounds and bumping shoulders and constant companionship to be so simply defined, but it wasn't this. Oh, she thinks, and knows she's in trouble.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Story to Tell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetwatersong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetwatersong/gifts).



The day she fell in love with Clint...

_wait_

That's the story they want her to tell, but she's not sure she can. She isn't even sure there's a story there _to_ tell. A "story" implies a narrative structure, a distinct beginning, middle, and end. With Clint and her, the beginning is shaky.

_who's beginning, which time, what version, which of herselves?_

Is it the beginning of their partnership, their friendship, their "relationship"? The first time they kissed or had sex or said "I need you"? Or was the beginning the first time they laid eyes on one another? Knew about the other's existence?

_he saw her first, she'd already read his file_

The middle - that's where it gets trickier. It's easier to lay out events, harder to speak about them.

Her gut instinct is to tell them it's none of their business, to keep deflecting like she always has, partly to protect herself from having to look at things too closely, and partly to protect their secrets and their home. She and Clint have talked about this. At best she can spin a tale made up of mission reports and safe houses that only tells a fraction of the story.

_those quiet moments, watching him with his children, the way his hands sit on Laura's shoulders, the way his fingers guide her own on the grip of the hammer or a brush, or what he looks like with his sleeves rolled up and dish soap to his elbows. The feel of him beside her in the truck on way up the uneven drive to the warm lights in the windows of the house._

She never "fell in love" with Clint. He is her constant, her north star, her sail. 

No, the moment, the falling, the demarcation of a time with no turning back has never been with Clint.

_It's apples and honey and seafoam green paint falling to puddle on the floor - it's a half-painted wall and cussing over Clint having to leave in the middle of the project and trying to help despite a broken leg. It's ending up in the floor in a heap, sticky and tangled with the rollers, and turning her head to see laughing eyes and that smile and realizing she's a hair's breadth away from a kiss._

_It's thinking "Oh," and feeling the world put on pause before making that irrevocable decision to lean forward._

There's nothing flashy, no imminent danger or romantic self-sacrificing gesture. There's a box, with blue and silver paper, and bayberry in the air.

_"A arrow brought you here in the first place. I'm giving you this one so it can always bring you home."_

_"They'll think it's his. For him."_

_Laura shrugged. "That too. But does it matter? It's up to the two of you what you let the people around you know about your relationship - I only care if you're comfortable with it. You should think about it though. You can't tell them everything, but think about whether or not they're important enough to you to trust them with some of it."_

_Laura's arms are around her shoulders, and she's leaning forward so that she can rest her cheek against Natasha's hair, looking at her so their eyes meet in the mirror._


End file.
